Sentiment Shift in AI Sector! Anthropic’s Valuation Expectations Reportedly Shrink—Is the High-Growth Narrative Losing Steam?
① It is reported that some existing shareholders of Anthropic, along with potential investors interested in participating in its IPO, are reassessing the valuation of this AI unicorn and lowering their expectations for its listing valuation. ② As a bellwether IPO for the AI sector, Anthropic’s listing performance is closely watched by the entire AI market. ③ Prospectus documents show that the company’s total loss for 2025 reached as high as $42 billion.
Cailian Press, October 16 (Editor: Liu Rui) – According to disclosures by four informed sources to the media, as the capital costs associated with expanding computing power in the AI industry continue to soar, some existing shareholders of Anthropic and potential investors intending to participate in its IPO are reassessing the value of this AI unicorn and lowering their valuation expectations for the listing after reviewing the latest financial data.
As a bellwether IPO for the AI sector, Anthropic’s listing performance is closely monitored by the entire AI market.
Anthropic’s Valuation Expectations Significantly Lowered
Informed sources stated that at an investor briefing held in San Francisco this Wednesday, many participating investors discussed a company valuation in the range of approximately $1.5 trillion. This figure represents a significant shrinkage from the previously market-expected valuation of around $2 trillion for the November IPO.
At this investor meeting, Anthropic disclosed its latest quarterly operational results to potential IPO investors: the company’s third-quarter revenue surged 45% quarter-on-quarter to reach $16.8 billion, achieving profitability on an adjusted basis.
Although these results were quite impressive and alleviated market concerns to some extent regarding the heavy cash burn associated with the company’s large model R&D, the slowdown in quarter-on-quarter growth rate still raised concerns among many investors.
Looking back at previous performance, Anthropic’s second-quarter revenue doubled directly quarter-on-quarter, climbing to $11.6 billion, while the high-growth momentum cooled somewhat in the third quarter.
Concerns Emerge Over AI Industry Financing
The backdrop to investors' cooling sentiment toward Anthropic's valuation is a ongoing sell-off in technology stocks across global capital markets.
Recently, share prices of global AI infrastructure firms, chip manufacturers, and new cloud service providers specializing in leasing AI computing power have all been hit by the wave of selling. CoreWeave, an AI computing company invested in by NVIDIA, saw its stocks and bonds plunge on Wednesday before extending losses on Thursday, reflecting deep-seated market concerns: the current large-scale infrastructure expansion in the AI industry is increasingly reliant on debt financing.
Should Anthropic's IPO fundraising fall short of expectations, market doubts regarding the sustainability of AI capital expansion will likely intensify.
Indeed, the U.S. IPO market has recently shown signs of chilling: data center operator SB Energy announced last month that it was postponing its listing, while nuclear technology firm Holtec Nuclear abandoned its IPO plans altogether.
Can grand visions withstand the pressure of reality?
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a team originating from OpenAI, with core founders including current CEO Dario Amodei and his sister, current Company President Daniela Amodei. Leveraging its Claude series of large language models, Anthropic has rapidly ascended to the top tier of global generative AI companies.
Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Amazon are two major pillars supporting the company's growth. Both entities play multiple roles: they are investors in Anthropic, suppliers of computing power, and key distribution channels, while also being direct competitors in the AI sector.
Previous reports indicated that Anthropic's revenue surged twelvefold year-on-year in 2025, approaching $4.6 billion; however, after excluding various impairment items related to liabilities from prior financing rounds, the operating loss for the year still exceeded $8 billion.
Furthermore, Anthropic's prospectus disclosed in September revealed that the company's total loss in 2025 reached as high as $42 billion, and warned that AI infrastructure spending would continue to ramp up—the company plans to invest $518 billion in cloud, computing power, and infrastructure construction over the next decade.
In its prospectus, Anthropic outlined a grand vision: the transformation AI will bring to the global economy could surpass the depth of industrialization, the widespread adoption of electricity, and the internet revolution. However, faced with slowing revenue growth and the financial pressure stemming from massive investment plans, some investors may temporarily hesitate.